City of Calgary says home rink of the Calgary Flames is flooded 10 rows deep

The inside of the Calgary Saddledome is shown in this undated handout photo provided by the NHL's Calgary Flames hockey club. The Calgary Flames say everything below the eighth row in the Saddledome is ruined by flooding. Team president Ken King says it's a total loss - dressing rooms, players' equipment, seats, boards and scoreboard electronics. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Calgary Flames

2013-06-21 14:59:00

CALGARY - The city of Calgary says the home rink of the NHL Calgary Flames has flooded and the water is at least 10 rows deep.

The 19,000-seat Saddledome is one of the feature buildings on the Calgary Stampede grounds.

"We have reports that—yes—it is up to the 10th row in the Saddledome and ... I think that really paints a very clear picture of what kinds of volumes of water we are dealing with," Trevor Daroux, the city's deputy police chief, said Friday.

Officials said there is little that can be done to pump out the building because there is too much water surrounding the building. And if levels have filled the lower areas under the seats, the Flames dressing room will be full.

The team did not respond to requests for comment. It used its Twitter account to keep employees away.

"Flames employees—do not attempt to go to the Saddledome today," the team tweeted.

The Stampede, the city's premier summer event and a major international tourist attraction, is scheduled to start July 5.

The rodeo grounds were a muddy lake Friday with water lapping at the roofs of the animal barns.

The mayor pledged the show will go on.

"All of those volunteers that make it happen every single year will make it work," Naheed Nenshi said at a news conference Friday.